Dayne, Badgers Make History With a 17-9 Victory Over Stanford

Wisconsin had the Heisman Trophy winner and the No. 4 ranking.

All Stanford had was a cast of characters determined that the Rose Bowl wasn’t going to be the game everyone figured.

There was receiver Troy Walters, playing with a special cast on his dislocated right wrist and catching three passes despite being ruled out of the game days earlier.

There was Willie Howard, the injured leader of a defense that rose far above its sorry reputation.

But in the end, there was the seemingly unstoppable force of Ron Dayne, and Wisconsin became the first Big Ten team to win consecutive Rose Bowls with a 17-9 victory over No. 22 Stanford Saturday in front of 93,731 on a cloudy, chilly day.

Dayne, the NCAA’s all-time leading rusher and the Heisman winner, rushed for 200 yards, 154 of them in the second half.

“I’m proud of the way we played,” said Stanford quarterback Todd Husak, whose team led at halftime, 9-3, and had a chance to try to tie the score with 2:19 left before the Cardinal’s vaunted two-minute offense sputtered to a halt in a flurry of penalties, with Husak slipping and falling on fourth down on Stanford’s final offensive play.

“No one gave up,” Husak said. “No one else thought we could win this game, but our defense played outstanding. Our offense didn’t get it done.”

The scoring fest that was so widely anticipated didn’t happen.

“You asked me the other day if it would be a shootout or a defensive struggle,” Wisconsin Coach Barry Alvarez said. “I don’t think anyone thought it would be a defensive struggle, but that’s what it was.”

A maligned Stanford defense that ranked 110th in the nation in total defense and gave up 69 points to Texas in the first game of the season held Dayne to 46 yards in the first half--and 20 of those came on one carry.

The only thing that seemed more unlikely was the halftime lead taken by Stanford (8-4), on a 28-yard field goal by Mike Biselli and a one-yard run by Kerry Carter, followed by a missed extra point after a bad snap.

Wisconsin was held to Vitaly Pisetsky’s 31-yard field goal.

When the second half opened, Wisconsin (10-2) made its intention clear.

Hand it to the man who won the Heisman.

Dayne took the handoff on the first play of the second half, and again on the second, finally breaking through the Stanford defense and running 64 yards to the 11-yard line before Frank Primus brought him down.

“We had a nice talk at halftime,” Dayne said. “A nice, calm talk. Everybody got real motivated. Everyone knew what we had to do. I saw a hole, and I just ran through it. Everybody did their job, and I just ran.”

It took only four plays after the second-half kickoff to score, and Dayne carried the ball on three of them, scoring the touchdown on a four-yard run to the left corner of the end zone as Wisconsin took a 10-9 lead 2:03 into the second half.

The touchdown was Dayne’s fifth in two Rose Bowl games--he scored four against UCLA last year--tying the record set by Neil Snow of Michigan in 1902.

Dayne joined USC’s Charles White and Washington’s Bob Schloredt as the only players to win consecutive Rose Bowl most-valuable-player awards.

It looked like the beginning of the end, but Stanford soon thwarted a Wisconsin drive on a sack by Riall Johnson and Sharcus Steen, and the Cardinal was on the move again.

A 38-yard pass play from Husak to DeRonnie Pitts on third down gave Stanford a first down at the six-yard line.

But Stanford couldn’t score the touchdown. Husak’s third-down pass meant for Walters in the end zone was off target.

Walters’ presence was remarkable, and he caught three passes for 52 yards, including a 28-yard pass, showing little regard for his injured wrist other than tucking the ball into his left hand when he ran.

“A couple of days ago, the doctors said I couldn’t injure it any further,” Walters said. “I knew I had to go.”

Stanford Coach Tyrone Willingham acknowledged it was a huge emotional lift.

“That’s what a championship-caliber player does,” Willingham said. “He finds a way when he’s bruised, when he’s banged up, when he’s tired, when he’s hurt, to make a contribution to his football team.”

But after the third-down pass failed, disaster struck on the field-goal attempt.

Stanford already had missed an extra-point attempt in the first half because of a high snap by backup Anthony Gabriel, filling in for injured long snapper Jon Sande.

This time, Sande came back despite an ankle injury and made a bad snap, and Wisconsin’s Mike Echols blocked the 23-yard field goal attempt.

“For the No. 2, it’s always a difficult job,” Willingham said. “Then we went back to the starter and he made a minor mistake that cost us a field goal.”

The fourth-quarter drive that all but put the game away for Wisconsin started with Dayne after a 31-yard Stanford punt gave the Badgers the ball at Stanford’s 40-yard line.

Once again, Wisconsin knew who to give the ball to.

Dayne picked up six yards on his first carry and two on his second, but Stanford’s Marc Stockbauer stopped him short of a first down on his third.

Then, on fourth and two, with almost everyone in the stadium looking for Dayne, Wisconsin quarterback Brooks Bollinger rolled out and hit tight end John Sigmund for a seven-yard gain and the all-important first down.

It was the first pass of the game Bollinger completed to anyone other than split end Chris Chambers.

The next play, Bollinger went to Sigmund again--for a 22-yard gain to the three-yard line, where Sigmund stepped out of bounds before attempting to score.

Dayne tried to carry the ball in twice, getting inside the one before Bollinger kept the ball on a sneak to score.

Wisconsin led, 17-9, with 7:22 left, and there was no particular sense that Stanford’s usually dangerous offense would be able to turn the tide.

The Cardinal finished with minus-five yards rushing, and the lack of versatility made it easier for Wisconsin to hold off Stanford, especially on a day when Husak wasn’t his sharpest and Walters was playing hurt.

Dayne drove Wisconsin deep on the Badgers’ next possession, but when Pisetsky missed a 34-yard field-goal attempt with 2:19 left, Stanford got one more chance--one the Cardinal couldn’t make good on.

The fourth-down play when Husak slipped was a pass play “a special play” that might have made the difference, Willingham said.

“Yeah, we were one big play from winning,” Husak said. “Unfortunately, we couldn’t hit that one big play.”

Wisconsin earned the victory. Stanford?

“Emphatically no, I don’t believe in moral victories,” Willingham said. “You walk into the locker room after a ball game and see the emotion, see guys crying, see the disappointment. It’s not a moral victory, but am I proud? No question.”

That’s what he told his players--a team that made the Rose Bowl despite losing to Texas in the first game of the season, 69-17, and later losing to San Jose State.

“He said he’s proud of us,” Husak said. “We made too many mistakes and that cost us the game.

“We had confidence in ourselves all year that no matter what team we were playing, we were capable of winning.

“I think everybody thought that, and unfortunately it didn’t happen today.”

It happened for Wisconsin, which knows what it is like to be an underdog.

It has an unlikely ring to it, it is Wisconsin, not Michigan or Ohio State, that is the Big Ten’s first back-to-back Rose Bowl champion.

“There is nothing like doing something no one else has done,” Alvarez said. “Not many people have an opportunity in their lifetime to do something like that. To do it really makes me proud.”

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ROSE BOWL BY NUMBERS

93,731

Saturday’s attendance, lowest since 1955.

26

Points scored, lowest in since 1977.

7,125

Career rushing yards for Ron Dayne, first player in college football history to gain more than 7,000.

-5

Stanford’s rushing yards, a Rose Bowl record.

30

Points scored in Rose Bowl games by Ron Dayne, a record.

2

Rose Bowl MVP award won by Dayne, only the third person to do so after USC’s Charles White, Washington’s Bob Schloredt

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1999 ROSE BOWL

CARRIES: 26

YARDS: 246

TOUCHDOWNS 4

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2000 ROSE BOWL

CARRIES: 34

YARDS: 200

TOUCHDOWNS 1

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MORE COVERAGE

* RANDY HARVEY: It would have been better for all concerned if Stanford hadn’t fooled around with injury reports. Page 2

* CHEESEHEAD FANS STAND ALONE: In good times and bad, no team gets more loyal support than Wisconsin. Page 5

* FREUDIAN SLIP? When Wisconsin needed to convert a key fourth down, it went to Sigmund instead of Dayne. Page 5

* THEY WERE PUMPED: Led by cornerback Fletcher, the Badger defense was more than up to the challenge. Page 6

* HE’S NO LOSER: Despite an injured knee, Stanford’s Howard was an inspiration to his teammates. Page 7

* STAND-UP GUY: He needed to use a cane because of knee surgery in November, but Alvarez was back on the sideline. Page 9